Summary

A number of external influences impeded my ability to do get much work done this month. As a result very little was achieved on Mudmap.

Highlights

• Small fixes for Mudmap installer
• Built a Cobra CLI for interacting with an Australia crypto exchange

Goal Performance

A review of last months three goals. See January’s Retrospective

Deliver the Interfaces feature for Mudmap

• Appraisal: Failed
• Rating: F

I didn’t even get close to completing this.

A bit of background. A number of things have been happening this month in my personal and work life - which obviously share resources with my development time. My entire family got quite sick though I suffered the worst, and the kicker, it was plain old flu. I actually had someone tell me I am wrong here and that it must have been COVID but just a false negative. Give it up people, the cold and flu still exist!

Additionally, I’ve been moved to a senior position in another team at work. The team is at the point of complete atrophy with everyone jumping ship or taking jobs elsewhere, and unfortunately, I am the best candidate to help out. I cannot begin to get started on how badly everything has fallen apart over the last 6 months - I feel like I’m working at Parts Unlimited from the Phoenix Project. We even have our own Brent!

Needless to say, my mind has been quite occupied over the last few weeks meaning time for Mudmap has been low.

Write at least one blog post for Mudmap

• Appraisal: Failed
• Rating: F

For the same reasons above I have had no time to do this task either.

Recommendations

I am about two years late to the party but Ted Lasso has to be the most wholesome and feel-good show I’ve watched in a long time. Some of it really hits home for me, in the past I have been in a high performance team with high stakes. I’d deal with the team dynamics of highly talented, motivated and sometimes abrasive individuals, and it is tough sometimes. So this series made me happy, sad, reflective and proud all at the same time. The soundbite that I’ll take away from it is be curious, not judgemental. It is something I need to remind myself daily.

After 6 weeks of training I competed in my first open water swim. It was a tough two kilometers in some decent swell; 3m at 10 second intervals. But, it feels like I’ve accomplished something worth being proud of and most importantly it aligns with my true self. The points in my life that I look back upon with the most fondness where also the most painful and required a lot of commitment and dedication.

“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.” - Viktor Frankl

I recommend doing something hard and painful every now and again. Get out of your chair, don’t take the umbrella and feel rain on your skin or challenge yourself by going for a Park Run. Just do something where all you can think about for a few minutes is survival - most problems aren’t that bad when you have such a contrast.

Wrap up

A short retro after a month of very little in the way of accomplishments. I did create a small Go CLI using Cobra for a popular Australian crypto exchange (still a WIP). This was mostly to enable my friend’s analysis of trade conditions but also to get more acquainted with writing Go CLI’s. This is an area where I believe Go really shines, especially with its ease of producing cross-platform binaries. Whilst I may have accomplished little on Mudmap I did create something useful for a friend - a silver lining for the month.

In March, I hope to be a bit more productive on Mudmap, or if I am still unable to produce much assess my ability to keep going with the project. This is that is weighing on my mind, especially in light of Netgate’s recent announcements. Effectively, they are looking to transition pfSense CE from development to maintenance mode. At least that is the feeling amongst the community, and whilst I do understand their desire to move in this direction, I do see that as a potential threat to Mudmap’s long term viability.

What can I do better?

• Write my weekly What Got Done on Friday instead of delaying until the weekend or later

What have I done well?

• I’ve done a lot to help out a friend with their own project, mostly on the deployment side
• Allowed myself to take time off when needed

Next month’s goals

This month I’m setting no goal other than to help my sick partner recover. As much as it feels cheap from a product standpoint family trumps penny stocks.

Analytics